LANSING – MI Energy Future, a growing coalition of business, environmental, agricultural and manufacturing groups, announced an initiative Thursday of creating a 10 percent renewable energy standard for the state by 2015 and urged people to sign its Online Petition to support that concept.
“Clean renewable energy equals Michigan jobs, energy security and a way forward for our economy,? said Andy Such, president of MI Energy Future and executive director of the Michigan Sustainable Energy Coalition. ?We can build a strong future for Michigan with renewable resources, not imported fossil fuels from other states and countries. With the double threat of global warming and skyrocketing fuel prices, the status quo is clearly unacceptable.?
Anna Giovinetto of Noble Environmental Power, which is creating a wind park in the Thumb region, said Michigan shouldn’t sit on the sidelines when it comes to renewable energy and the Great Lakes State with all its resources “can also be the Great Energy State.”
More than $2 billion is spent to import coal and uranium for electric energy and the state’s energy output will not be able to meet demand by 2009, according to a Public Service Commission report from 2006.
Twenty-four other states have established renewable energy standards. While Michigan doesn’t have a standard, about 3.7 percent of the electricity generated in the state comes from renewables, Such said.
The petition drive is important, he said, because it opens the issue up to the general public so they can contact their legislators directly from the website.
Rep. Frank Accavitti (D-Eastpointe), chair of the House Energy and Technology Committee, said he intends to incorporate the proposal into legislation currently before the panel. While he had called for a 25 percent standard by 2025, that can still be a goal Accavitti said, but everyone’s proposals work together. The committee will take up the legislation before Christmas, he said.
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